Web User - UK (2020-02-05)

Can you help? Email [email protected] – win a Back Issues disc! 5 - 18 February 2020^69

Firefoxhasa newwaytoaccessbookmarks

Whenyourold

externalhard

drivestartsto

playup,it’stime

togeta newone

Readers’ Helpdesk

Can you help your fellow readers with their

computer problems? Send your questions and

answers to [email protected]

BROWSERS

Show bookmarks in Firefox’s

address bar

Q

I have discovered, completely by

chance, that if you hover your mouse

pointer over the right-hand end of the

Firefox address bar, a down-arrow

appears. Clicking this arrow produces

a display of several of your current

bookmarks in a drop-down list,

immediately below the address bar.

However, I can see no rhyme or reason

for the particular bookmarks that are

featured.

Sometimes a new bookmark appears

in the list, at the expense of one that was

previously featured. When you delete

a bookmark from the sidebar, it also

disappears from the list, to be replaced

by another. You can change the order

of the bookmarks in the sidebar by

dragging them up or down, but doing

so doesn’t affect the display. It would be

useful if you could choose which

bookmarks appear in this list, but

I can’t find any way of doing so.

Alan Beasley, via email

A

Well done for spotting this, Alan –

we’re sure many readers will be eager

to try it. These bookmarks are ordered by

those last opened, and there doesn’t

seem to be any way of rearranging them

• bookmarks can only be managed by
  going to the Bookmarks Library.
  However, there is one change you can
  make. Visit about:preferences and
  search for search suggestions. At
  the foot of this section, there is an option
  to ‘Change preferences for browsing
  history, bookmarks, and tab suggestions’.
  Click this and you’re able to allow not

only bookmarks to appear when clicking

the down-arrow, but also your browsing

history and open tabs.

Steve Clark, Features Writer, Web User

HARDWARE

Quieten a noisy external hard

drive

Q

My Windows 10 laptop has an SSD

and a 1TB Western Digital back-up

drive. This external drive has nothing on

it but it’s recently become very noisy, as

if it’s constantly being used. I’ve changed

the drive letter from the default D: drive

and it still continues to randomly spin

and click. How can I quieten it down?

Wendy Chapman, via Facebook

A

External hard drives may make some

sounds, including whirring and

spinning, typically when starting up, but

a lot of spinning and clicking noises

indicate that the heads inside the drive

are trying (and failing) to locate data,

which is often a sign

that the hard drive is

on its way out. You can

test whether it’s in

working order by trying

to transfer data to and

from the drive. You

may also wish to swap

out the data cables,

to see if that makes a

difference. If you’re not

getting any joy, the

best option is to

replace it because

storage can be bought

relatively cheaply.

Steve Clark, Features

Writer, Web User

A

I believetheremaybeanotherexplanationforPhil

Baker’sproblem(AsktheExpert,Issue491,bit.ly/

webuser491). Myson’shousein theUSAhastwoWi-Fi

signals– 5GHzand2.4GHz.Thefastersignalis

unreliableand,whenit fails,ourAndroidtabletsswitch

totheother.However,myHPlaptopfailstofindany

connection.Perhapsthecafésignalis alsoona

frequencynotrecognisedbyMrBaker’slaptop?I deal

withtheproblembyusinganexternalUSBWi-Fidongle.

GuyV Barker,viaemail

Force devices to

switch Wi-Fi signals

STREAMING

Q

I believeyoucanplayAudible

booksonanEchodevice,since

bothareownedbyAmazon.Does

anyoneknowa waytoplaythemon

myGoogleHomesmartspeaker?

KenBernard,viaemail

READERS RESPOND

Youcanseekhelporsuggestsolutionstootherreaders’problems

by emailing [email protected] or via http://www.facebook.com/

webusermagazine or twitter.com/webusermagazine.

EMAIL

Q

However many times I delete draft

Outlook emails on my laptop and

phone, they come back. Sometimes

the badge states that there are drafts

in the empty folder. How do I stop this?

Gavin Holt, via email

CAN YOU HELP? [email protected]

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